WaterWired

Water Pollution: Big Pharma's Next Big Headache?

Alex Basilevsky noted this article by Neal McGrath for GreenBiz.com about a meeting of Big Pharma sustainability people.

At a recent gathering of sustainability people from some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies (or "Environment, Health and Safety" people as they tend to be called in the pharmaceutical industry), I got a glimpse of what could be the next headache for the oft-beaten up industry. This insight came not from what they talked about the most, but rather what they did not talk about enough: The question of pharmaceutical residue in the water supply.

Many of the attendees discussed the great progress their companies had made in reducing toxic chemicals, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. But McGrath notes that it was what the attendees didn't talk much about that could be the industry's next big problem.

But when the discussion moved to the question of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the water supply, everything seemed to go off the tracks.

First, there was spirited discussion of programs under which the pharmacies that sell prescription and over-the-counter medications would have to take them back. This reduces the likelihood of people flushing unused drugs down the toilet or tossing them into the trash, where they leech from landfill into the water table. This has been done in some European locations with mixed success: Lackluster results in some locations were blamed on poor public education.

Here in the U.S., the solutions are not so easy. Many drugs are controlled substances and it is not clear that pharmacies are legally allowed to take them back. The EPA may support the approach, but the DEA is less enthusiastic: Drugs are carefully controlled on their way out the door but there are no such controls or even procedures to handle these drugs when they come back. 

Maybe law enforcement agencies could collect the drugs?

But McGrath reports that there was disagreement on the source of the pharmaceuticals.

Then the real challenge made its way into the discussion: What is the source of the trace amounts of pharmaceutical products being found in water supplies? Some conference attendees confidently stated they must coming from people tossing unused pills into the toilet; if they are right, then some kind of take-back program is a good solution, however tricky it may be to implement.

Others were not so confident or the contamination's source; they asserted with equal conviction it was coming from human excretions. Since most drugs don't completely metabolize in the body, a little or a lot (depending on the drug) is released in the patient's urine. If this is the source, take-back programs won't do anything to solve the problem.

The biggest and most looming challenge seemed to be that the people in the room did not agree on this basic question, and it turns out that the few studies done so far have also not delivered clear answers.

This is clearly a challenge: If you don't know the source, how can you devise an approach to tackle it?

And, as McGrath states, that's a scary question.

“It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. "-- former Vice President Dan Quayle

SUSIE Presentations For Your Viewing Pleasure

Our SUSIE students have headed home and it's about time for me to do so as well.

Here are their final projects, presented to officials here in Washington:

Download Community Lay Guide WATSAN

Download Environmental Education

Download Wastewater WQ Strategy

Download Improper Agricultural Practices in Caribbean & C.A.

Download Soil Conservation Education in Mountainous Areas

Download Waste Reduction and Reuse Initiative

Download Workshops Educate Rural People Land and Forest

Download Alternative Wastewater Management

SUSIE is sponsored by the Study of the U.S. Branch in the
U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

From where I sit, the future looks bright. Great students, great program. We learned as much or more than the students.

I miss them already.

Enjoy!

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” -- William Butler Yeats

Tucson's Rainwater Harvesting Ordinance: A Good Idea

Even though it was passed 14 October 2008 and does not take effect until 1 June 2010, Tucson's rainwater harvesting ordinance has recently attracted much national attention. It's the first such municipal ordinance that requires rainwater harvesting for new commerical developments.  

The ordinance requires that new commercial developments obtain 50% of their landscaping water needs via rainwater harvesting, with certain exceptions.

Here is a copy:

Download CMS1_035088

The city has a rainwater harvesting WWW site with more information and resources, including a water budget spreadsheet. 

You can obtain more information on the  WWW site of the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA).

A good idea.

"I suggest that the national government come out with a policy that makes all high rise and commercial and government establishments to resort to rainwater harvesting immediately." --Subash, an Indian blogger

Colorado Legalizes Rainwater Harvesting - Sort Of

Much has been made of Colorado's decision to legalize rainwater harvesting. Yesterday's New York Times featured an article about the new law that takes effect on 1 July 2009. NPR had a piece on it a month ago.

The rainwater harvesting law is not all-encompassing; not just anyone can put out a rain barrel or other system and collect rainwater. There a re hoops to jump through.

To help you figure out who is eligible here is a little two-pager from the Colorado Division of Water Resources:

Download RainWaterBills

Some are concerned that legalization of rainwater harvesting could be the beginning of the end of Western water law as we know it.  

"We believe there is something to rainwater harvesting. We believe it makes economic sense." -- Harold Smethills, Colorado developer

Roof Water Harvesting for Artificial Recharge in the Americas

Dan Stephens, good friend, former graduate-school classmate, entrepreneur, and hydrologist extraordinaire, gave this presentation at the recently-concluded Groundwater for the Americas conference in Panama City. He gave me permission to post it.

Download Roof Water Harvesting for Artificial Recharge Final

Las Vegas: Sustaining Growth or Dry Times Ahead?

Quite an original title, right? Just couldn't come up with something more alliterative.

A number of friends (John Fleck, Michael Dale) alerted me to this story about a 'trigger' that would cause the Southern Nevada Water Authority to initiate its plan to pump groundwater from rural Nevada and pipe to southern Nevada.

If the water level in Lake Mead drops another 23 feet to 1075 feet above mean sea level, then the water authority board will be asked to give its official approval to build the project.

Say what? You mean the board hasn't given its official approval?

Here is what Henry Brean says in his 1 June 2009 Las Vegas Review-Journal article:

The lake trigger is the newest addition to the authority's Water Resource Plan, which plots how the valley's wholesale water supplier expects to keep local taps running amid unprecedented drought on the Colorado.

Board members have already approved the pipeline concept and signed off on ongoing efforts to secure water rights and environmental permits, but they have never actually voted to build the project.

That decision will come if, or perhaps when, the surface of Lake Mead sinks to elevation 1,075, a low-water mark not seen since 1937 when the reservoir was being filled for the first time.

Water authority General Manager Pat Mulroy doesn't know when the trigger point might be reached.

The trigger point has more significance. Brean continues:

Elevation 1,075 is significant for another reason. It is the legal threshold for a shortage on the Colorado River, a federal designation that would force Nevada and Arizona to reduce the amount of water they pull from the river.

Nevada's share of such a shortage would be 13,000 acre-feet a year, roughly the amount used by 26,000 average households. Arizona would be shorted more than 10 times that amount.

The lake level is now at 1098 feet, its lowest since 1965, when Lake Powell was being filled.

The SNWA plans ultimately call for about 134,000 acre-feet to be pumped from rural Nevada. That is enough for about 270,000 homes by 2020. Critics charge that pumping could have disastrous effects on ecosystems and the lifestyle in rural areas, all to fuel growth in southern Nevada. The SNWA contends that the pipeline is not about sustaining growth but protecting the community from extended drought on the Colorado River.

According to Brean:

Water authority officials long have said the pipeline is not about sustaining growth, but protecting the community from extended drought on the Colorado River.

The phrase "not about sustaining growth" is really hard to swallow.

When I was in Tucson at the recent Ground Water Summit, I heard Kenneth A. Albright, PE, SNWA's Director of Groundwater Resources, speak. To my disappointment, he did not speak much about groundwater per se, but about SNWA water resources in general. He said that in SNWA's service area they were planning on 3.6M residents by 2035. That's approximately double the current population.

So a doubling of population in about 25 years is not growth?

What about conservation?

Albright said SNWA's conservation goal was 199 gallons per capita per day by 2035; usage is now about 254 gallons pcpd. Both figures are pretty pathetic, when you consider what other Western USA cities are doing. Just yesterday, I got a Tweet touting that Long Beach just reached 105 gallons pcpd. Seattle is about 102 gallons pcpd, San Diego is about 150 gallons pcpd and Albuquerque is below 175 gallons pcpd. Here are some more Western cities (thanks to Chris Brooks).

So even though SNWA has recently gotten quite aggressive conservation-wise, it could do much better than 199 gallons pcpd in 25 years.

If SNWA is not seeking more water to fuel growth, perhaps it should get the word out to its employees.

And that 'trigger'? It just may be part of a gun pointed at rural Nevada.

“The problem with communication…is the illusion that it has been accomplished.” – George Bernard Shaw

EPA Rainwater Harvesting Handbook: Guide to Policy Implementation

CJ Brooks' Watering the Desert blog alerted me to this EPA handbook on rainwater harvesting, Managing Wet Weather with Green Infrastructure, Municipal Handbook, Rainwater Harvesting Policies.

It includes policy recommendations and information on how to protect human health should you desire to use it for drinking or bodily contact. It also explains the benefits of rainwater harvesting.

Before you indulge in rainwater harvesting, be sure to check on local/state regulations and plumbing codes. Colorado forbids rainwater harvesting (unless you secure a water right) because it assumes that all rainwater eventually reaches surface water or ground water. So by harvesting rainwater without a right, you may be interfering with someone else's water right. Hey, guys - ever heard of E or ET?

The pamphlet notes that the City of Seattle has secured a city-wide water permit to ensure the legality of rainwater harvesting efforts.

It's a good little pamphlet, and CJ has a good discussion of its salient points, including mention of price as a means to promote conservation. Damn! Another doff of the cap to Aguanomics!

Want some detailed information? Check out Brad Lancaster's books on rainwater harvesting: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Another tool in our water toolbox!

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.” --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

DCDC Wins International Water Prize

Given that I am in the middle of discussing Powell's Dead Pool, I thought this post would be particularly appropriate.

This is from the press release on DCDC's WWW site.

The Decision Center for a Desert City has been tapped as one of a handful of institutions worldwide to receive this year’s Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. DCDC, part of Arizona University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, will split the $133,000 award with one other institution.

The prizes, awarded biannually by the Prince Sultan Research Center for Environment, Water and Desert, part of King Saud University in  Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, bolster scientific research that tackles problems such as water distribution, sustainability, preservation and provision, focusing particularly upon arid regions like the American Southwest.

 “I am gratified that DCDC’s efforts to improve sustainable water management in desert cities are being recognized,” says Patricia Gober, co-director of DCDC. “It really speaks to the global applicability of our work.”

Gober will travel to Riyadh to accept the prize, which will be awarded as part of the Third International Conference on Water Resources and Arid Environments, to be held November 16 - 19, 2008.

The prize provides awards in five categories, ranging from general creativity and innovation to advancements in specialized branches, such as ground water, surface water and alternative water resources and desalinization. DCDC’s award was in the category of Water Resources Management and Protection. More information on the prize program is available here.

DCDC is one of only five National Science Foundation-funded Decision Making Under Uncertainty centers nationwide. The center’s record of striving to improve decision making under climatic uncertainty, focusing on the interplay between water management decisions and climate change scenarios, was pivotal in their selection for the award, as was WaterSim, DCDC’s cutting-edge scientific simulation and policy tool. More information is available at the DCDC Web site.

Here are all the prize winners.

Congratulations!

"If the camel gets his nose in a tent, the body will soon follow. " -- Saudi Arabian proverb

International Water Conservation & Xeriscape Conference and Expo

The International Water Conservation & Xeriscape Conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM on 26-27 February 2009.  It will be held in conjunction with the 2009 Water Conservation and Xeriscape Expo, 28 February-1 March, 2009. The Expo is free to the public and will feature more than 250 exhibitor spaces.

Both are sponsored by the Xeriscape Council of New Mexico and are great events that have grown in stature since they were first held in 2000.

Here is the WWW site blurb:

Since 2000, the Water Conservation Conference offered by the Xeriscape Council of NM has become the national outdoor water conservation conference. The February 2008 conference attracted almost 400 registrants from 18 states. Over 35 city water departments were represented. Registrants have also attended from Mexico, Japan, Canada, and Argentina.

We have been able to attract and feature the world’s most renowned water experts.  Global water/climate keynoters have included the late Sen. Paul Simon, Sandra Postel, Peter Gleick, and Eileen Claussen.  Others, speaking on related landscape and water, water and energy and sustainability have included Hunter Lovins, Peter Warshall, Gloria Flora, Schlomo Aronson, Robert Glennon, and Amy Vickers.

The 2009 global water keynote will feature Maude Barlow, the National Chairperson of The Council of Canadians, Canada’s largest public advocacy organization, and the co-founder of the Blue Planet Project, working internationally for the right to water. Our “Foodshed” keynote address will be by Wes Jackson, President of The Land Institute, who is leading the research to develop perennial grains. The Land Institute has worked for over 20 years on the problem of agriculture with a primary purpose of developing an agricultural system with the ecological stability of the prairie and a grain yield comparable to that from annual crops. Our increasingly current and relevant topic for 2009 is “Watershed – Foodshed”.

Yes, you read that right - Maude Barlow will be the global water keynote. Her topic is: "Downscaling of General Circulation Models and Coupling with Hydrologic Models: Implications for Southwestern Hydrology."

NOT!

But I doubt she'll be discussing New Mexico's 10-year water supply.  

"Sacred cows make great hamburgers." -- Unknown

Alliance for Water Efficiency: Online Resource Library

The Alliance for Water Efficiency, a national non-profit organization that promotes the efficient and sustainable use of water, is pleased to announce the formal launch of a comprehensive web-based Water Efficiency Resource Library, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, who is a major partner and funder of the program.  The Resource Library houses a substantial body of information about water efficiency programs, products, practices, and more. 

"Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all." -- Peter Drucker

Mazda's Concept Car Turns Rainwater Into Drinking Water

Lynne Paretchan, a former student and now attorney extraordinaire, sent me this piece from -where else? The Los Angeles Times! This sounds like something concocted by the engineering students we have here at Oregon State University.

It's about Mazda's Kiyora concept car. The car’s roof has water channels that collect rain and send it through an activated carbon filter. This removes all waterborne pathogens and other pollutants right down to the molecular level. Bacteria and viruses are intercepted without the use of chemicals. Then the pure, clean drinking water pours into a vessel specially designed for Mazda by Lifesaver Systems, which calls it the Bottle Citi. This receptacle is positioned between the front seats, so any occupant can get to it easily.

A first reaction might be that this is all very well in someplace such as Seattle, but not so useful in the parched environs of Southern California. But with observers who comment on such things predicting that wars in the future will be fought over precious liquids in dwindling supply -- call them oil and water -- and considering the Kiyora’s low-consumption, low-emissions diesel engine and water feature, Mazda really might be on to something here.

"Inventing is a combination of brains and materials. The more brains you use, the less material you need." -- Charles F. Kettering

LA Times Reporter: DIY Graywater System Installed

Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times wrote this story about installing her own graywater system in two days for $312. There's a video along with the story, and some helpful hints about how to get started, for example:

The daunting technological legalese of the plumbing code sent me scouring the Internet for other options, which I found through the Santa Barbara firm Oasis Design and a group called the Greywater Guerrillas in Oakland. Pretty much everything I had ever wanted to know about gray water -- and then some -- was available at www.oasisdesign.net, where I spent the better part of an afternoon learning the basics and purchasing two books.

The photocopied-and-stapled "Builder's Greywater Guide" reiterated many of the same technical and legal issues that had been outlined on the Oasis site, and the glossy and perfect-bound "Create an Oasis With Greywater" gave me more detailed information on systems to consider.

Read more about the Greywater Guerrillas.

"I was never more excited to do laundry, and it wasn't because my son and I were running out of clean underwear. " -- Susan Carpenter

Oregon Water Supply & Conservation Initiative: Inventory and Demand Forecasts

Last year's legislature provided $750,000 to the Oregon Water Resources Department for the Oregon Water Supply and Conservation Initiative (OWSCI), a multi-faceted program to help the OWRD advance its water planning agenda.

With funding from the OWSCI, HDR conducted a conservation inventory invnetory and water demand assessment. As part of the latter, HDR developed a forecasting tool to investigate demand under various scenarios. Given the short time frame and resources available, HDR did a remarkable job developing the forecasting tool under the leadership of Ronan Igloria. [Disclosure notice: I served on the Technical Review Team.]

Here is a pdf version of the HDR's OWSCI presentation at the stakeholders' meeting on 18 September 2008:

Download hdr_owsci_presentation_18_sept_2008.pdf

"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." -- Unknown

Elizabeth Royte Experiences the "Yuck Factor"

Elizabeth Royte, author of Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It, wrote an excellent article on "recycled" toilet-to-tap water in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine.

This wonderful photo, by Dwight Eschliman, is from the article.

She focuses on the Orange County Water District's new Fountain Valley plant, which treats sewage for injection into the ground, to be withdrawn later as drinking water. It's all part of the District's Groundwater Replenishment System, winner of the prestigious 2008 Stockholm Industry Water Award. 

She of course delves into the psychological barriers facing such "reclaimed" water.

I remember a number of years ago when San Diego voted down a similar "toilet-to-tap" measure. Instead, they decided to get more water from NorCal. An engineer colleague of mine, who had worked as a consultant to the proposed reclamation project, was amused at the San Diegans' decision. His wry comment: "Instead of drinking their own shit, they decided they'd rather drink Sacramento's."

How true. Out of sight, out of mind.

"You can't fix stupid." -- Ron White

53 Easy Tips to Use Less Water

Fiona King from EcoTrekker sent me this link to 53 Easy Tips to Use Less Water

Nothing on converting water to gasoline, but maybe that's coming.

Saving Water: From Field to Fork

Jeff Behan sent me an interesting Swedish publication that examines the issue of saving water in the food chain, from beginning to end:

Download Paper_13_Field_to_Fork.pdf

Enjoy!

"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean." -- G.K. Chesterton

B & C's Water News: Special Issue on Water Reuse and Recycling

Brown and Caldwell's Water News has a special issue on water reuse and recycling. Check it out, and watch what you drink!

Volume 2 of 'Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond' Now Available

Volume 2 of Brad Lancaster's Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond: Water-Harvesting Earthworks is now available. It currently is being offered for 20% off at the publisher's WWW site.

From the WWW site:

Earthworks are one of the easiest, least expensive, and most effective ways of passively harvesting and conserving multiple sources of water in the soil. Associated vegetation then pumps the harvested water back out in the form of beauty, food, shelter, wildlife habitat, and passive heating and cooling strategies, while controlling erosion, increasing soil fertility, reducing downstream flooding, and improving water and air quality.

Building on the information presented in Volume 1, this book shows you how to select, place, size, construct, and plant your chosen water-harvesting earthworks. It presents detailed how-to information and variations of a diverse array of earthworks, including chapters on mulch, vegetation, and greywater recycling so you can customize the techniques to the unique requirements of your site.

Real life stories and examples permeate the book, including:

• How curb cuts redirect street runoff to passively irrigate flourishing shade trees planted along the street
• How check dams have helped create springs and perennial flows in once-dry creeks
• How infiltration basins are creating thriving rain-fed gardens
• How backyard greywater laundromats are turning “wastewater” into a resource growing food, beauty, and shade that builds community, and more
• How to create simple tools to read slope and water flow
• More than 225 illustrations and photographs

I don't qualify as an expert in this field, so I cannot provide a true review. But my perusal of the book reveals an ample number of diagrams and photographs and easy-to-understand text.

Your comments on the book are most welcome.

Lancaster is apparently working on another volume to conclude his trilogy on rainwater harvesting.

"Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk. The rain makes running pools in the gutter. The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night. And I love the rain." -- Langston Hughes, April Rain Song

Long Beach Water Gets Serious About Conservation

This is the current photo of the week from Brown and Caldwell's California Water News. It's a photo of a billboard that is a component of Long Beach Water's summer-long conservation campaign.

I am still partial to the ads for Denver Water's conservation campaign.

"An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship." -- Spanish proverb

Tucson's Toilets: Flush Twice, It's a Long Way Home

Well, the Empire Storm Troopers are coming home to roost, or maybe I should say that the Law of Unintended Consequences is rearing its ugly head once again.

This time it's low-flow toilets in Tucson; they're causing problems.

I recall an engineer friend telling me years ago that low-flow toilets were going to cause problems in some systems because there just would not be enough water in the sewage and flow might be very sluggish, especially in areas where the sewer pipes did not have enough of a slope.  Settling of solid waste could occur, leading to increased corrosion and odors.

Older pipes that were designed for pre-low-flush toilets can be particularly susceptible, since they were designed for times of higher water use.

Tony Davis wrote a story in the 11 February 2008 edition of the Arizona Daily Star describing some woes in Pima County (metro Tucson).

Low water-use toilets might be too effective

Can low-flow toilets cause problems for sewer lines?

A Pima County program to install the toilets in older neighborhoods at taxpayers' expense is in limbo because of that question. And the answer eventually could change other water-conservation policies as well.

The toilets work smoothly and save a little water, most homeowners in the program say. East Siders Jerry Horton, Don Swann and Cathy Kent, for example, called them "perfect," "wonderful" and "awesome."

Only a fraction of the residents complained about having to flush the toilets twice, said the Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona (Water CASA). But after installing 450 of 1,000 toilets planned for several East Side neighborhoods — in a pilot program that could have been expanded to other areas — the county hasn't ordered any new toilets since late October. The last few already-ordered toilets are now being installed.

Read the entire story here.

Maybe we're talking about another Grand Engineering Challenge for the 21st Century.

"I have a wide stance when going to the bathroom." -- Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)

How "Gray" Does Your Garden Grow?

Graywater has been touted for irrigating landscape plants. But how about plants used for human consumption?

The Texas A & M El Paso Research Center has produced a very useful document about the effects of graywater as irrigation water for vegetables and cotton, as compared to brackish irrigation water. The study, the first of its kind, is ongoing, so the results are preliminary.

Download how_gray_does_your_garden_grow.pdf 

No detrimental effects on vegetable crops was discerned.  The study concluded that graywater is a good irrigation alternative.

The study used only laundry water; shower water was not used because of the presence of a large number of chemicals. Furthermore, the study did not consider the human health effects of using graywater to irrigate food crops.

There is also a report on graywater at the Water Environment Reserach Federation (WERF); it is 03-CTS-18CO

"Subtract the obvious, add the meaningful." -- John Maida, MIT Media Lab

Report: Water Use Efficiency in the Atlanta Region

This just in from the Pacific Institute. The report was done in 2006 but has just been released to the public.

***********

In a previously unreleased analysis, the Pacific Institute reviewed the potential for improving water use efficiency in the Atlanta, Georgia, region. That analysis concluded that Atlanta has significant, untapped potential for reducing its inefficient use of water while providing for population growth and development, and that local agencies have both underestimated this potential and under-invested in programs and policies that might help reduce their inefficient water use.

Given the growing crisis over water in the region due to the severe drought, and the conflict with neighboring states of Alabama and Florida, the Pacific Institute is releasing this analysis to the public.

The full report can be found here.

For further information, call Ian Hart, Communications Director: 510 251-1600.

*************

"Sacred cows make great hamburgers." -- Anonymous

Oh, Crap! The "Yuck Factor"

 

Yeah - you've heard it before: "Flush twice, it's a long way to (insert place name)". Here in Corvallis, we insert Albany, Salem, or Portland. When I lived in Truckee, CA, the place name was Reno. You get the picture - someone else is probably drinking your "crap". But would you drink your own crap or your neighbor's? Yuck! Probably not. And engineers and psychologists call this the "Yuck Factor".

The current (17 September 2007) issue of the High Country News has a great article (read free) about "Facing the Yuck Factor" in the Western USA.  Peter Friederici wrote the article; the nifty art is by Paul Lachine.

My former University of New Mexico (UNM) colleague Bruce Thomson is quoted in the article. He is helping the small community of Cloudcroft, NM, design a water reuse system to alleviate their water shortages, which are exacerbated on summer weekends.

The article also has an excellent recounting of the San Diego experience, where voters turned down two "toilet-to-tap" measures in 1999 and 2006. A colleague of mine, who consulted for the city on the project, disparagingly commented, "Well, they can go back to drinking Sacramento's crap". He was referring to the fact the San Diego gets some of its water from Northern California and the rest from the Colorado River. In the case of the latter, they are drinking Las Vegas' crap.  But that's okay - it's not their crap.

Out of sight, out of mind.

"When drinking water, think of its source." -- Chinese proverb

Greywater Guerrillas

The above picture and the one below (both courtesy of the New York Times) conjure images of Rube Goldberg Plumbing, Inc. They are actually part of an illegal "grey water" system at a house in the Oakland, CA, area. The house is the Haut House - House of Appropriate Urban Technology - owned by Laura Allen, an elementary school teacher who is a member of the "dirty water underground", the Greywater Guerrillas, a group that promotes the use of greywater systems to recycle and reuse the household water that drains from sinks, washing machine, and showers for flushing toilets or irrigating plants.

The 31 May 2007 issue of the New York Times had a story by Gregory Dicum entitled The Dirty Water Underground about the Greywater Guerrillas and other like-minded people:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/garden/31greywater.html?ex=1181275200&en=adc4472af0166fbf&ei=5070&emc=eta1

They are active mainly (but not exclusively) in the Western USA - arid regions like Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California.

As usual, California led the way in 1994 with the first set of guidelines for greywater systems. Other states have followed suit; Arizona's code is generally considered the best. Critics complain that the California code is so "overbuilt" (it's based on the septic system code) that it discourages homeowners from installing such systems; hence, the illegal systems such as Laura Allen's.

When I lived outside of Albuquerque in the Sandia Mountains I had a greywater system. It came with the house, and I did not realize it was illegal for about a year or so. It was really more like a "pseudo" greywater system, since its main purpose was to bypass the septic system to prevent overloading. Since I did not have a garden, I really didn't use the effluent for irirgation. Greywater systems are now legal in New Mexico.

It's of course easy to screw things up, so there is a need for some guidance. The NYT article cites a good WWW site with loads of information, including common mistakes.

Here is a little selection chart from the site:

Download systemchart.pdf

The site's greywater policy center offers much advice, including Arizona's law, the one to emulate.

The site also has synopses of the various state laws. Check it out.

Pleasant plumbing!

"Flush twice - it's a long way to Reno." -- The unofficial motto of Truckee, CA, upriver from Reno, NV